Hypericum microcalycinum (Nomenclature)
This species differs from 1. H. elongatum in the following respects:
Leaves (main stem) linear to narrowly oblanceolate or oblong, apex obtuse to rounded; leaves (axillary) with apex always rounded. Inflorescence up to 12 nodes, 15–c. 20 mm long, sometimes with 1–2 pairs of flowering branches below. Sepals equal, not imbricate, 2–4 × 0.6–1.2 mm, narrowly (rarely rather broadly) oblong to narrowly triangular, obtuse to subacute, almost always all regularly gland-fringed, with glands sessile or margin subdenticulate. Petals 5–18 × 2.5–8 mm, 2–5.5 × sepals. Capsule not or scarcely rostrate.
Coniferous woodland, rocky ground, acidic soil; 500–1600 m.
Southwest Turkey (Antalya, Konya, Isparta, Adana, Hatay).
The small, obtuse to rounded sepals with a continuously glandular margin are nearly always sufficient to distinguish H. microcalycinum from H. elongatum, but one intermediate form with triangular-lanceolate sepals and a continuously glandular margin occurs in Lebanon (see under H. elongatum). The Hatay specimen listed above seems to differ in its short (10–12 mm), narrowly oblong to oblanceolate leaves, broader inflorescence and smaller flowers (14 mm in diam.) with sepals similar to those of the Lebanon specimen. These characters suggest that the plant either represents the end of a continuous morphological trend from the other populations or, more likely, a derivative of the Lebanese intermediate mentioned above. Only further collecting will clarify this problem, so it is best at present to refrain from allocating these two quite distinct specimens to a new taxon or taxa.